


The D Word

by aceschwarz222



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Parent Tony Stark, Peter Feels, Peter Parker is an Avenger, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Angst, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-21 05:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11937051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceschwarz222/pseuds/aceschwarz222
Summary: Tony Stark means the world to Peter Parker. So much, in fact, that Peter slips up and calls him 'dad' on more than one occasion.In other words, the two times Peter prays Tony doesn't hear him say 'dad' and the one time he wishes he did.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: angst, injury, cliffhanger (yes there will be a second part)

The first time Peter called Tony “dad”, he managed to stop himself from mortal embarrassment. 

He had been distracted by something on the TV when Tony had walked into the living room of the Avenger’s Tower.

“How’s it going?” Tony asked, patting his shoulder.

“S’good da…” he trailed off as he realized who the hand on his shoulder was connected to. He shot up from the couch and stumbled backward.

“D-d-dat is a really good show,” Peter stuttered, pointing to the TV. “Real good.” He tried to shrug it off with a smile, but it came out looking more like a grimace.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “You okay?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Peter chuckled. “Uh huh. Totally fine. Nothing weird going on here.” He knelt down and quickly gathered up his sneakers and backpack. “Bye!” he called over his shoulder as he bolted to the elevator.

Tony just shook his head and chalked it up to teenage hormones.

 

* * *

 

The next time it happened, Tony was driving Peter home after a long day of training. Well, technically Happy was driving and Tony was backseat driving. Peter had completely passed out against the plush leather seats when they arrived at his apartment complex.

“Kid, we’re here,” Tony said, tapping away at his cellphone. When Peter didn’t respond, Tony poked his side. “Spidey, c’mon. You can’t keep that gorgeous aunt of yours waiting.”

Peter groaned and tried to push Tony’s hand away. “Stop it, dad,” he mumbled. Opening his eyes, he realized what he had spoken out loud. Now wide awake, he cautiously turned to look at Tony to gauge his reaction.

By some miracle, Tony was too engrossed with his phone to hear the teen’s whispers. Peter nearly collapsed with relief until he saw Happy’s smirk in the rearview mirror. Peter’s eyes grew wide, but to his shock, Happy mimed zipping his lips. His mishap for safe for now.

Tony put his phone away and turned his full attention to Peter. “Sleeping Beauty! How nice of you to join us!” Peter shook his head and smiled. “You did good today, kid,” Tony commended, squeezing his shoulder. “You’re getting really good. You should be proud.”

Peter blushed at the praise. “Thanks,” he replied softly. He pulled on the door handle and got out of the car.

“Night Petey,” Tony called out the window as Happy drove away.

Peter waved at the disappearing car.

“Night dad,” he whispered to the empty street. He sighed and mentally scolded himself before making the trek up to his apartment.

 

* * *

 

“What’s up with you?” Ned asked him the next day. “You seem all…” He waved his hands around in random patterns as Peter stared forlornly at his lunch.

“I keep almost messing up,” he confessed to his best friend.

Ned cocked his head to the side. “Almost messing up how?” He lowered his voice and leaned across the table. “Is this about the Stark internship?” he whispered.

Peter nodded. “Kind of. A little. Not really. I mean it involves Mr. Stark, but…”

Ned sat patiently, waiting for Peter to continue.

Peter sighed and decided to tell his best friend everything. “I keep...I keep calling him ‘dad’,” he admitted. He shut his eyes and waited for Ned to laugh in his face.

“Makes sense,” Ned replied, much to Peter’s shock. He took a bite of his sandwich and swallowed. “I mean, you spend a lot of time with him, and he is pretty protective of you. Remember the Training Wheels Protocol?” Peter groaned at the memory of Tony’s little software installation on his suit.

“But he’s not my dad!” Peter exclaimed. “I mean,” he continued, lowering his voice, “what if he hears me and gets so disgusted by it and kicks me out of the Avengers? I practically just got back on!”

Ned took his bag of Cheetos and traded it for Peter’s bag of chips. “He’s not going to kick you out,” he reasoned. “You’re Spiderman! You have awesome powers! He needs you!”

The bell rang, and Ned scrambled to clean up his trash, leaving Peter alone at the table.

“But what if he doesn’t?” he asked himself.

 

* * *

 

“Peter! I need you!”

Peter stood at the back of the Quinjet, his ears ringing. He could have sworn his breathing stopped, but he didn’t collapse or pass out, so his lungs must have been working. His voice, however, was not.

“Peter!” Steve shouted again. “Get over here!”

Peter stared at the body on the stretcher in front of him.

“I-I-I,” he stuttered.

Steve yanked off his Captain America mask as Bucky navigated the jet out of the trap they had walked into.

Steve pointed to a small door in the wall of the jet. “Grab towels. Lots of them.”

Peter’s nerve endings finally seemed to start firing again, and he got what Steve requested.

“Good,” the super soldier said calmly. “I need you to apply pressure at his wound. He can’t bleed out before we get him to the Cradle.”

Peter nodded and gulped as his hands shook.

It was supposed to be a simple intel retrieval. Tony had agreed to let Peter come as long as he waited in the Quinjet. That simple retrieval turned out to be crawling with HYDRA operatives. Overwhelmed and outnumbered, Steve, Bucky, and Tony had rushed back to the jet.

But not before Tony got hit square in the chest by a plasma ray. The front of his armor never stood a chance against a weapon they hadn’t seen before.

Peter numbed himself as he stumbled next to Tony’s stretcher. The Iron Man faceplate was scattered somewhere on the floor, and Tony’s eyes darted wildly. His normally rosy cheeks were void of all color as blood pooled out of the large wound dangerously close to his heart. Peter closed his eyes and pressed the towels against Tony’s chest.

Tony groaned and Peter had to fight back tears. As soon as one towel turned crimson, he switched it out with another.

“Y-y-you’re gonna be okay,” Peter whispered in a shaky voice. “You’re gonna be okay.”

Tony’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as another spasm of pain hit.

Peter fell back. “I’m sorry!” he cried, rushing back up. “I’m sorry!”

“Peter!” Steve called from the front. “Don’t let up no matter how much it hurts.”

Peter nodded even though Steve couldn’t see him. He picked up a clean towel and resumed his duties. Tony’s bloody hands wrapped around Peter’s wrist. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water as if he was trying to say something.

“What?” Peter asked. He took his free hand and clasped it with Tony’s. “What?!”

Tony gulped and looked Peter in the eyes. “S-s-sorry,” he gasped.

His grip on Peter loosened, and his eyes fluttered shut.

Peter panted, not knowing what to do. He let the towel fall to the floor as he shook Tony to try and wake him up.

“T-T-Tony?” Tears fell down his face as he shook him harder. “TONY!”

He was practically hysterical now. He yelled as he grabbed at the rest of Tony’s armor. If he could rip it off, maybe Tony could breathe easier.

A strong pair of arms wrapped around him and carried him away from Tony’s unconscious body.

“No!” he yelled, struggling against his captor. “NO!” He thrashed about and broke free, immediately running over and grabbing Tony by the shoulders.

“Dad!” he sobbed. “Dad please wake up! You can’t leave!” He let out a scream as Tony refused to respond. “DAD!”

He begged and bargained with every god he could think of. He promised to stay out of trouble and stay in Queens. He promised he would graduate high school and make him proud. He promised his father everything if he would just…

“WAKE UP!”

Peter was so hysterical he never felt the needle prick his neck. The last thing he saw as his vision blurred were two people leaning over the stretcher.

And then it all went black.


	2. Part 2

_ Peter walked through the cemetery completely numb. He had no idea where he was going, but his feet kept propelling him forward. He scanned each cold, grey headstone, trying to make sense of the dull carvings.  _

_ A whimper stopped him in his tracks. Peter whirled around, trying to find its source. His eyes finally landed on a small boy standing in front of two headstones. The boy was dressed in a suit that was slightly too big, and his hands wiped angrily at his face. Peter walked over and knelt down next to the boy. _

_ “You okay?” Peter asked, his voice cracking. Tears rolled down his own face, but he wasn’t exactly sure why he was crying. _

_ The boy shook his head, but Peter still couldn’t see his face. _

_ “Where are your parents?” _

_ The boy pointed to the headstone, and Peter gasped. _

 

_ Here lies Richard and Mary Parker _

_ Beloved father and mother, husband and wife. _

 

_ When the boy pointed to the second headstone, Peter was sure he was going to faint. _

 

_ Here lies Tony Stark. _

 

_ Peter couldn’t read anything after the first line. He collapsed to the ground, trying to blink away the black dots swarming in front of his eyes. _

_ “Wh-wh-what?” he stuttered. “What is this?” _

_ The boy turned and Peter was face-to-face with himself. The same wavy brown hair, the same long, awkward limbs, all of it was the same. Except his face. Little Peter’s face was completely blank, with small, puckered slits where the eyes, nose, and mouth should have been. _

_ Peter screamed and stumbled backwards, trying to escape the child. It had to be a trick, it had to be a mind game. _

_ “Peter…” A disembodied voice seemed to come out of Little Peter’s face. He held out an arm to Peter and stepped closer. _

_ “Go away!” Peter exclaimed, falling over the cement path. Gnarled tree roots seemed to appear out of nowhere to trip Peter as he tried to escape. _

_ “Peter…” _

_ “Stop it!” he begged. “Please just stop!” He covered his face with his arms and cowered down as he prepared for the worst. _

_ “Peter…Peter…” _

 

“Peter!”

Peter jolted up from the couch he was sleeping on, panting heavily. His heart thumped wildly as it got harder and harder to breathe. He shook as a pair of soft hands cupped his face and turned him to the right. Aunt May stared back at him, her brown eyes full of concern.

“M-M-May?”

May nodded. She carefully reached out a hand and ran her fingers through Peter’s hair, just like she used to do when he was little. His resolve crumbled as he practically jumped into her lap, wrapping his arms around her in a vice-like grip.

“Shhh, baby, I’ve got you,” May whispered. “I’ve got you.” She cradled him in her arms as he sobbed.

“T-Tony...he’s, he’s…” Peter tried to form a complete sentence, but the words kept getting caught in his throat.

May pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Tony’s gonna be okay. Look.” She nodded her head to the side, and Peter followed her gaze.

Tony was lying in a hospital bed, with a thin sheet covering his lower body. Bruises covered his face, and their dark color contrasted the stark white gauze wrapped around his chest. Peter heard a faint beeping noise and realized a heart monitor was connected to his unconscious mentor.

“He’s alive?” Peter whispered, afraid to let himself be set up with false hope. “Really alive?”

May nodded and began to explain. “One of the people who came to get me, Barnes maybe? He said they were able to get him to some machine in time. He’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Peter’s arms gave out and he clumsily laid back down on the couch. May somehow made a pillow appear and rested the soft material on her lap so it was resting under Peter’s head. She continued to play with his hair as he tried to truly comprehend that Tony was okay. Soon, his breathing evened out, and he turned to look up at his aunt, who was gazing down at him.

“You’re mad,” he said, swallowing thickly.

“Furious,” she replied immediately. “But we’ll talk about that later.” Peter sighed, relieved he wasn’t going to have to deal with May’s wrath right away.

“Can I ask you something?” Peter nodded. “Captain Rogers...god I can't believe I can say I know him." She shook her head. "Anyway, he said he had to sedate you. That you were screaming and saying some things…” She trailed off, and Peter knew that she knew exactly what had happened in the jet.

He slowly sat up and couldn’t meet May’s eye anymore.

“Wanna talk about it?” she asked.

“No,” he replied softly.

“Then I’ll talk,” she said. She took a deep breath, and her eyes shone with tears. “You’ve lost way more people in your life than any kid should ever have to deal with. No one will ever replace your uncle. Or your mother. Or your father. No one.” She cleared her throat as she calmed her own emotions down.

Peter clenched his jaw and gripped the edge of the couch tightly. He knew she was right, and that he was stupid for thinking of Tony like that. Like…

“But,” May continued, “you are so lucky to have some great people in your life. People who are like fathers.” Peter turned his head. “Honey, it’s okay. What you said was okay.” She reached out and covered one of his hands with her own.

Peter’s breath came out in short spurts as his face heated up. Before he could stop it, a fresh batch of tears fell down his cheeks. He kept nodding his head as he tried to process everything. He was just tired, so, so tired.

The consistent beeping from the heart monitor suddenly spiked with rapid beeps. Peter and May looked over and saw Tony stir under the sheet. His eyes fluttered open and a shaky hand gripped the handrail of the hospital bed.

He groaned and tried to sit up.

“Tony!” Peter cried, standing up. “You’re awake!”

Tony’s gaze finally landed on the relieved teen. “Hey kid,” he coughed.

Peter thought his heart might burst at the sound of Tony’s voice. “I’ll go get someone!” he rambled. “I should get someone, right? Or do you want water? Water would help your voice. Not that it sounds bad! It’s just...I mean...I’ll-”

“I’ll get someone,” May cut in. She smirked at Peter. “You stay here.”

Tony gave May a weak grin. “Oh, I’m definitely dead,” he joked. “Only heaven would have a beautiful angel like you here.”

“Cut the crap, Stark,” May shot back, pointing a finger at him. “I’m glad you’re not dead because now I can kill you myself.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “What the hell were you thinking?! Bringing him on a mission?!”

Tony coughed and winced as pain shot through his chest. “Okay, first of all,” he replied, “I just got shot in the chest. Can we maybe do this later?”

May’s eyes softened, but not by much. “We are going to talk about this,” she said, pointing a finger at him.

“Maybe over dinner?” Tony asked, a familiar twinkle returning to his eyes. “I know a great place in Little Italy. Fantastic wine pairings.”

May merely scoffed and shook her head as she walked out of the room, leaving Tony and Peter alone.

Peter tipped back and forth on the balls of his feet. He weaved his hands together, trying to find a purpose for them. He held them behind his neck, around his shoulders, and even on his waist.

Tony’s rolled his eyes. “Kid, I can feel your antsiness from here. Relax a bit, would ya? Have a seat. Not like I’m dying or anything.”

“S-sorry,” Peter replied, sitting down on his hands. An odd silence filled the room as each one tried to figure out what to say to each other.

“She’s right, you know,” Tony finally said. “You shouldn’t have been there. I shouldn’t have let you come.”

“S’not your fault,” Peter mumbled. “I wanted to help.”

Tony sighed. “Maybe, but you’re young. You didn’t need to see all of…” He trailed off and waved his arm over his bandaged chest. “I shouldn’t have put you through that.”

Silence fell once more. Peter swallowed a few times, trying to get the courage to ask a question that had been bothering him since he had woken up.

“Can...can I ask you something?” he whispered quietly. “Why did you say that you were sorry?”

Tony’s head fell back against the pillows as he contemplated his answer.

“My dad was never around,” he started. “And he was a bit of an asshole. I know Cap has different feelings, but, in all fairness, he was a popsicle when my father raised me.” He cleared his throat and blinked a few times at the ceiling. “And,” he continued, “when I met you, I thought this was my chance to make up for all the ways he screwed up. A chance to really be there for you.”

Tony took a deep breath and frowned. “And I messed up. If I had been there for you the way I wanted my father to be there for me, you would have never been on that jet. I should have known the risks and that our intel could have been faulty. Instead, it went to hell and you got the brunt of it. I-”

“I called you ‘dad’!” Peter blurted out, unable to keep his secret any longer. His cheeks flushed, and he focused his gaze on the ground. Tony had no clue how to respond, so Peter kept talking. “When you passed out on the jet...I didn’t want to lose you. I...I was scared I was going to lose you.” His voice hushed to a whisper as he dared to look up at Tony.

To say Tony was shocked was an understatement. He tossed sentences around in his brain, but none of them seemed right for this situation. Peter looked so vulnerable sitting there on the couch, and his eyes were filled with fear at what Tony would say.

“L-listen, kid,” Tony began. “It w-was an...intense situation. We, uh, say things like that when...we’re, uh stressed.”

Peter shook his head. “N-N-No, you don’t g-get it,” Peter stuttered. “I, um...well I...it’s just that I…I’ve done it before.” He paused and took a deep breath. “And I meant it,” he said strongly. “And...And I liked that I meant it.” He sniffed and rubbed his face against his shirt sleeve. He scrunched his eyes and waited for rejection to come.

Tony's heart filled with an indescribable joy. He had always seen himself as a screw up. He knew he was selfish. He did take after his father after all. He never expected in a million years for Peter to feel something like this for him. Maybe he wasn't doing it all wrong. Maybe...

“Peter,” Tony said softly. “Look at me please.”

Peter slowly lifted his gaze and met Tony’s. The man he saw as a father looked back at him, his eyes warm and kind.

“I liked that you meant it too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought a lot about how I wanted this to end, so I hope y'all like it. Your comments have been absolutely AMAZING!! Thank you so much for all the positive feedback. :D


End file.
